On 24 November 2022, following an application from an insurer and further consultation with industry, consumers and government stakeholders, ASIC introduced the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910 (Instrument) to provide relief to certain Authorised Representatives of Australian financial services licensees (ARs) from complying with the requirement to provide a Financial Services Guide.
This relief is available to ARs who are only authorised to:
- deal in general insurance products and/or bundled consumer credit insurance products; and
- provide claims handling and settling services.
The Instrument also requires Australian financial services licensees to take reasonable steps to ensure the relevant ARs:
- draw the client’s attention to the availability of a dispute resolution system; and
- give information to their client’s about the AR and any remuneration received by the AR.
ASIC intended to reduce the regulatory burden on the relevant ARs associated with duplicative disclosure requirements, while ensuring that the same level of protection is provided to customers if they had dealt directly with the product issuer.
The relief commenced on 29 November 2022 and will expire on 30 November 2027.
This is good news for many ARs in the insurance industry as it reduces the regulatory burden and compliance costs in dealing with various insurance products and managing claims for the next 5 years.